September marks the anniversary of the release of one of my most very favorite books, The Flavor Bible! Last year I did a post about it and this year Karen and Andrew (the authors) were kind/terrifically sweet and generous enough to send me a copy of The Flavor Bible’s companion book, What to Drink with What You Eat, as well as a few bottles of wine to play with. There was a bit of a snafu with the delivering of said book (though the wine showed up quickly, at 9 p.m. from a refrigerated UPS truck…odd) which FedEx decided to send straight back after I wasn’t home to receive it, but Karen and Andrew just arranged to have it sent to me at work and all was well! So that explains why this post is just barely still in the month of September. It was frustrating having the wine around and no book to glean ideas from, though!

How dramatic!

Luckily it took me almost no time at all to decide what to do with the first wine. I’ve had an idea for a red wine-chocolate chip sorbet scribbled in my idea notebook since I moved to New York (actually I think it was scribbled in there as I was brainstorming to pass the time on the trip down) and I was excited to put it to use! I’m not much of a red wine fan – dry whites and the occasional rosé are more my speed (and, ok, hard liquor over everything if we’re really getting down to it) but one of the bottles I received was a gorgeous, deep purpley-red Cabernet-Sauvignon. Not very sweet but not overly tannic either, the added sugar and spice in this sorbet really helped the wine achieve its maximum dessert potential, I think.

Of course you have to serve it in wine glasses.

I hope I’m  not insulting any wine purists by dumping the whole bottle (minus a few sips to taste test it) in a pan with sugar, water and spice, but this is how I roll. You give me a foodstuff, I make said foodstuff into dessert. It’s what I do. It would be very good on its own, without the little bits of bittersweet chocolate throughout, maybe with some fresh cherries or other red or blue/black/purple berries…but then it would be more of a palate cleanser than a dessert. And I like dessert.

The booziness never really goes away completely.

Let’s talk about those books for a bit. You all know how much I love and rely on The Flavor Bible to spark my creative process. If I’ve convinced you to pick up a copy and put it to use, good! I hope you love it as much as I do…though if you do, you’re going to need What to Drink with What You Eat as well. Really. I can’t believe I’ve gone for so long without it. In addition to being an excellent way to learn a lot of the basics about wine quickly, it also covers EVERYTHING you could possibly drink. Including water. There’s even a nice, thorough tea section. As someone who seeks out flavors in unusual places, this just adds another dimension to what I can potentially do with flavors in my dessert experiments.

The chocolate is a little big but it still tastes awesome.

The spices in this may seem overpowering at first, even when it’s freshly churned, but will mellow out once it’s had a chance to set up. The only improvement I can suggest is to use bittersweet chocolate shavings (the chocolate MUST be bittersweet…I’ve decided this, don’t question it) or do it up straciatella-style, as it’s hard to balance big chips in bites of quickly-melting alcoholic sorbet.

Happy birthday, Flavor Bible!

Cabernet-Sauvignon Chocolate Chip Sorbet

1. 1 bottle Cabernet-Sauvignon
2. 1 cup sugar
3. 1 cup water
4. 1 medium cinnamon stick, roughly broken up
5. 1 tsp whole cloves
6. 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
7. 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Place the wine, sugar and water in a deep saucepan. Add the spices and bring to a boil. Keep on a low boil for 5 minutes, until most of the alcohol has cooked off and the spices are apparent. Remove from heat. Remove as much of the spices as you can find with a small strainer and allow to come to room temperature (or chill over an ice bath if you’re in a hurry). Strain completely into a medium-large bowl and place in the freezer for about 5 hours, until the mixture is slushy. Churn in an ice cream maker, mixing the chocolate chips in at the last few seconds of churning. Remove to a chilled container and freeze several hours, until firm and scoopable.

Yes, you do really need to pre-freeze the base until it’s slushy. And eat it in small quantities (or just very quickly).

Nutty goodness.

The first thing I’m going to show you is brought to you in part by Oh Nuts! of Brooklyn. I was contacted by them and asked if I’d like to try some of their bulk nuts and dried fruit for use in a recipe. Of course I said yes! It took me a while to decide what I wanted to try (they have a HUGE selection, and I’ll definitely be placing future bulk orders through them), and eventually I decided on raw macadamia nuts (because they are generally not something I would buy due to their price) and dried candied kiwi (which I’d never had before).

Kiwis: now in technicolor.

The kiwis are honestly kind of a better snack than an ingredient, but I did use a few alongside candied pineapple and papaya (from the store downstairs) in my first creation, some coconut macaroons topped with macadamias.

Both nutty & coconutty.

Where is the fruit, you ask? It’s a surprise!

Hey, fruit!

However, that is not one of the recipes I will be sharing today. I wasn’t overly thrilled with the way they came out and they were a pain in the butt to shape without them falling apart. They were tasty, but I thought the macadamias deserved a little something more special. So I made something else.

Crunchy & soft.

I decided to make macadamia-topped banana mochi cakes. I couldn’t find an actual recipe for banana mochi cakes, just one for Hawaiian mochi banana bread. It sounded great but contained Bisquick, something I definitely don’t keep in my kitchen, so I found a recipe for a Bisquick substitute and replaced the flour with non-glutinous rice flour to keep them gluten-free. I also added what I believe to be the banana’s best friend: Chinese 5 spice powder. And to give another slight dimension to the flavors, I used a splash of sesame oil.

Oh them banana speckles.

But that’s not all. Oh no. You see, I thought that banana and macadamia weren’t quite enough. I wanted a third flavor. I asked on Twitter. The responses were basically all cries for chocolate and coconut. But I had no chocolate in my possession (or else I’d have added cocoa nibs, I’m sure) and I didn’t want to mess with the texture by adding dessicated coconut. There was a third flavor that kept floating to the top of my brain – CARAMEL – but for a while I just couldn’t figure out the best way to add it to the batter without compromising the recipe. So I took a step back and thought about all the things that went into the recipe. It quickly became obvious that I just had to caramelize the bananas first! So I did. And the cupcakes were amazing.

Pretty cake!

Caramelized Banana Mochi Cakes with Macadamias

1. 4 medium bananas, ripe
2. 1/4 cup sugar in the raw
3. 5 g baking powder
4. 2 g sugar
5. 48 g rice flour (not Mochiko)
6. 23 g vegetable oil
7. 8 oz. Mochiko
8. 2 tsp baking soda
9. 1/2 tsp salt
10. 1/4 tsp Chinese 5 spice
11. 3/4 cup sugar
12. 3/4 cup vegetable oil
13. Splash of sesame oil
14. 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
15. 2 1/2 eggs (scramble one egg and add half the weight to the other two)
16. 1/2 cup roughly chopped macadamia nuts

Slice the bananas in half lengthwise and place on a foil-lined sheet or broiler tray. Sprinkle the raw sugar in a thick layer. Broil or torch until the sugar is melted and well caramelized. Allow to cool, then puree thoroughly in a blender and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Combine the 5 g baking powder, 2 g sugar and non-Mochiko rice flour in a medium-large bowl and use a pastry cutter to cut in the 23 g vegetable oil. You want the mixture to be in tiny crumbs…crumblets, if you will. Whisk in the Mochiko, baking soda, salt, 5 spice and sugar. Stir in the oil and vanilla, then the eggs, then the bananas. Allow the batter to rest for a couple of minutes, then spoon it into lined muffin tins. Sprinkle with chopped macadamias and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the edges of the cake tops are browned. Makes about 16 cupcakes.

These cupcakes, unlike most mochi cakes, are actually really good while still warm (like most banana baked goods), though a bit oily. They don’t get quite as chewy as a normal all-mochi cake, but they are extra soft and crazy fragrant. I declared them possibly the most banana-y thing EVER. Z likes them with a schmear of cream cheese.

***BONUS RECIPE Y’ALL***

I know I promised two recipes, so here’s the second one! It does deserve its own post but I only got one decent picture so I decided to just tack it on here. Prickly pears have a pretty short season so get a bunch while you can (discounted bruised-looking ones are the way to go; the outside looking yucky doesn’t mean the insides aren’t fine) and make this fast! It’s a great thing to have on hand in the early fall if you’re going through a final heat wave like much of the country is now. Just be careful and don’t touch them bare-handed – the worst pricklies are invisible!

Hard to capture the insane magenta color.

Prickly Pear Sorbet

1. 12 medium prickly pears
2. 6 Tbsp sugar
3. Juice of 2 limes
4. 1 Tbsp tequila or vodka

Wearing gardening gloves or holding the fruit with an oven mitt or other form of prickle protection, slice each prickly pear in half lengthwise and use a spoon to scoop out the pulp. Combine the pulp and the other ingredients in a blender and puree thoroughly. Strain out the seeds and chill. Once cold, churn in an ice cream maker and freeze until solid and scoopable. Makes about 1 quart.

Prickly pears come from cactus plants and as such are indigenous to the American southwest, Mexico and Israel. They come in a variety of colors ranging from yellow to magenta, with magenta being the most common. They’re full of little stone-like seeds, so they’re most often consumed blended and strained into Margaritas. Both the fruit and sorbet have a simultaneously sticky and slimy quality to them that isn’t unpleasant, it just makes for some tricky scooping sometimes. It tastes at first like unripe banana, then like lime, then not at all like either of those things, and is very tasty and addictive.

Hooray for berries!

However, there are exceptions to every rule, and sometimes even a least favorite something has its place. One good place to stick your raspberries is in this awesome ice cream.

Tangy, sweet and cold.

Time for a bit of a segue: Some time prior to the making of this ice cream (which admittedly was probably like a month ago…oops) I had picked up some gooseberries at the Green Market. I totally loved them but was unsure what to do with them, so I appealed to Twitter for help. In response I was offered a copy of the newly released The Berry Bible, from the always awesome Natalie (thank youuuuu). I gladly accepted, and though it didn’t arrive at my door in time for me to utilize it in my gooseberry experiment,* it sure came in handy later when raspberries began popping up all over. The book itself is indeed a veritable religious text of all things berries, and like most berry-driven guides originates in the Pacific Northwest. Though it’s quite dry reading and the recipes are very specific to obscure berries and local ingredients, it’s still a nice book to have on the shelf beside some of my other definitive titles.

I left in the seeds for crunch and appearances.

I ended up adapting a recipe for buttermilk-loganberry ice cream and it was absolutely wonderful, a really nice thing to have around during one of the early heat waves of this ridiculous summer. It would be great with some peach puree swirled in, or just topped with warm stewed peaches.

What a way to cool off.

Raspberry Buttermilk Ice Cream (adapted from The Berry Bible)

1. 1 pint raspberries
2. 1 1/2 cups sugar
3. 2 cups buttermilk
4. 1 Tbsp vodka

Thoroughly but gently rinse the raspberries, then drain and pat dry. Puree just until there are no whole berries left. Pour the puree into a mixing bowl and whisk in the other ingredients. Churn in an ice cream machine or by hand and freeze until firm and scoopable.

* Zack ended up suggesting gooseberry pancakes (since gooseberries are somewhat blueberry-like), which I made using the standard pancake recipe in The Joy of Cooking and serving with homemade elderflower syrup. They were really tasty and something I’ll make again next year when gooseberries pop up again for a week or two…though I have a tweak intended for the pancakes, if I can get a special flour. Ooooo….

…Well, they’re not. At least not in the way I promised. See, I just don’t have the energy, or honestly, the interest to be as hardcore into blogging as I was a year ago. Priorities change. So instead of stressing myself out over (and just plain forgetting) all the neato stuff I was going to do (which other bloggers are doing better anyway) I decided to think about what it was that I missed about blogging. And I do miss a lot! I decided that I missed sharing things when they went 100% right, and that I missed making up cupcakes. The latter will be addressed in one of the, uh, at least two other entries planned for this month. The former, however, is right below this sentence!

Not actually cherries :O

A couple of weeks ago I was flopped on the couch, positively melting, as Z and I discussed potential sorbet flavors. We had overdosed on mango while watching the last few episodes of LOST, and that had been my go-to flavor for some time. I was probably flipping through The Perfect Scoop when I thought of cherries. But not just any cherries.

No artificial coloring. NONE.

I wanted to make sour cherry sorbet. But that wasn’t quite enough. I wanted lime, too. Lots of tart, acidic lime with the sour red cherries. I noted the idea both mentally and literally, knowing that sour cherries were not far off and all I had to do was wait (and sweep the Green Market vigilantly once in a while).

By the way, those aren't cherry stems. They're basil stems.

I imagined a gorgeous, bright red color and a puckery sour flavor, and the cherries I picked up delivered. They were actually darker in color than other sour cherries, but were a bit cheaper, and make an equally sexy crimson sorbet.

But wait! There’s more…

What else tastes a bit like cherries and sourness? And liquor? That’s right – an amaretto sour. I’m happy to report that this sorbet is awesome when topped with a nice dose of amaretto.

I call it the Frigid Amaretto Tart.

Sour Cherry Lime Sorbet

1. 1 lb. sour cherries, washed & pitted
2. 3/4 cup sugar
3. Juice of 6 limes
4. 1 cup water
5. 1 Tbsp vodka

Mix together the cherries and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, covered, then simmer for 5 minutes, until the cherries are soft and juicy (they’ll taste like cherry pie filling). Allow to cool fully, then place in a blender and add the rest of the ingredients. Puree thoroughly and strain to remove the bits of cherry skin. Churn in an ice cream maker or by hand and freeze until firm and scoopable.

This flavor combination would also make excellent ice pops; just omit the vodka and freeze in molds. You could also make a Mixed Up Frigid Amaretto Tart by combining the sorbet and amaretto in the blender.

Quite elegant.

Well, if you’re like me and are lucky enough to have a store right downstairs that sells frozen passion fruit pulp, you can rush down and get all the ingredients to make this passion fruit ice cream within a few minutes, churn it and be enjoying a flavorful frozen treat in an hour or two. It’s an interesting recipe in that it uses the whole egg as opposed to just the yolks – I think it makes the texture a bit fluffier. I changed it up a little by using half-and-half, which also lightened the recipe somewhat. It’s incredibly simple and something I will be making again, though quite possibly with cacao nibs in it next time. Yum!

Have a little more time on your hands and a hankering for something classic? Want something to do idly while watching a TV show? Then maybe this other recipe can help you out…

Bet you never thought of making THIS at home.

That’s right. Homemade chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Egg-free and full of awesome vanilla bean flavor! Totally worth the time and effort involved, especially since it makes a nice big batch.

Extra dough balls added for emphasis.

One thing you are going to need when making this ice cream is very high quality vanilla extract. Homemade is best – you know, put scraped beans in a jar and fill with vodka, use when dark and fragrant. It makes an excellent addition to any ice cream or sorbet where vanilla flavor and a little alcohol for softness is desired. If you haven’t had the foresight to make your own, just make sure to use real vanilla with a high alcohol content. You will also need a vanilla bean – buy them online in bulk, grocery stores are a rip off in this case.

As elegant as raw cookie dough gets.

And YES, this is an entirely egg free recipe. The dough is essentially a shortbread since there is no egg, and I decided that with the added richness from the butter, the base didn’t actually need to be a custard. The ice cream comes out very fresh and vibrantly vanilla-flavored, with no custardy richness to cover anything up.

Waffle cone not required.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

First, Make the Cookie Dough Balls:

1. 1/2 cup butter
2. 1/2 cup sugar
3. 1/4 cup brown sugar
4. 1 tsp vanilla extract
5. 1 1/2 tsp water
6. 1 cup AP flour
7. Pinch salt
8. 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp miniature chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and beat in the vanilla and water until thoroughly combined. Scrape down the bowl again. Add the flour and salt and beat on low speed until just combined, scraping down and incorporating any flour left on the edge of the bowl. Fold in the chocolate chips.

This is the part of the recipe that takes some patience. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat. Grab a small piece of dough and pinch it into a rough cube, then gently roll it into a sphere. It should be about marble-sized – add or remove more dough as needed and re-roll. Line up the balls on the sheet as you go and freeze them once they’re all in place.

Then, Make the Ice Cream:

1. 2 cups milk
2. 1 vanilla bean, scraped
3. 1 1/2 cup sugar
4. Pinch salt
5. 2 cups cream
6. 2 Tbsp vanilla extract

Place the milk, vanilla seeds and pod, sugar and salt into the pot. Heat to a simmer, then remove from heat and cover. Steep at least 5 minutes. Remove the pods and wash them for use in extract or sugar. Pour hot milk into a bowl and chill over an ice bath. Whisk in the cream and vanilla extract, then churn in a machine or by hand. Fold in the cookie dough balls as you remove the ice cream to its container (if you’re doing it by hand, fold them in once it’s the consistency of soft serve). Freeze until firm and scoopable.

On another note, I’m FINALLY going to make a real effort towards making pastry technique videos. Really basic stuff, like folding, whipping, piping, handling dough…Things that have been drilled into me, but are important for anyone to know if they’re interested in pastry. I don’t have a fancy camera or any video skills whatsoever, but I’ll figure it out (actually I just told Z that he’d have to learn how to edit the videos and stuff). At least I’ve got a list of topics! :D